Schools: 7,000 privatised:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/05/private-takeover-schools-forced-academisation-waltham-holy-cross
Private firms are making big money out of children’s social services:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/dec/05/private-firms-making-big-money-childrens-social-services
“Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs – HMRC and the Department for work and Pensions – DWP released their estimates of benefit fraud and payments made in error for the 2016/17 financial year.
The figures on benefit fraud AND their errors are somewhat smaller than we are usually led to believe.
HMRC said the total “level of error and fraud favouring the claimant” was £1.32bn which although this sounds high it is in-fact just 4.9% of the total tax credits bill.
More is lost because of their incompetence than fraud
Look at the figures in detail and they debunk the benefit scrounger claim even more.
Errors favouring the claimant was £1.05bn; 3.9% of the total tax credits bill.
Fraud favouring the claimant was £280m; 1% of the total tax credits bill. …”
“A disabled mother from Yorkshire says she is so worried about the cost of water that she sometimes has to miss out on washing or flushing the toilet.
Shirley Widdop, from Keighley, whose bill, based on a water meter, has risen by 35%, says: “It’s outrageous and like something from the 1930s.”
“We shouldn’t have to ration water.”
A report on poverty from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that arrears for water bills are now the most common form of debt for the poorest families.
“I am on a water meter and because I’m on a low income I constantly worry about the bill being too high,” says the 51-year-old, who lives with two of her children.
She says it’s embarrassing but wants to raise awareness for many other people in a similar situation “who can’t speak up for themselves”.
The Consumer Council for Water, the watchdog for water consumers, says the number of people being put on to reduced rates for water bills, because they are struggling to pay, has risen by 50% in a year, to almost 400,000. …”
“A “relentless rise” in the number of working families struggling to make ends meet means more than half a million children in Britain are now trapped in poverty, a damning report has revealed.
In-work poverty is the highest it has been in 20 years and in a typical classroom of 30 children, nine are living in poverty, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s state of the nation report says.
Although successive governments have argued work is the fastest route out of poverty, the figures show 8 million people are living in poverty in households where at least one person is already in work.
The alarming figures come after the chancellor Philip Hammond revealed Brexit will make the UK worse off under any scenario.
The government estimates the UK economy could shrink by 3.9 per cent after 15 years under Theresa May’s Brexit plan, compared with staying in the EU.
But a no-deal Brexit could deliver a 9.3 per cent hit, the figures say.
Overall one in five of the UK population (22 per cent) are already in poverty – a total of 14.3 million people, and 56.5 per cent of those in poverty are living in household where someone is in work.
Campbell Robb, chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, warned families could be “pushed over the brink”.
He said: “We are seeing a rising tide of child poverty as more parents are unable to make ends meet, despite working. This is unacceptable.
“It means more families are trapped in impossible situations: struggling to pay the bills, put food on the table and dealing with the terrible stresses and strains poverty places on family life.
“It’s time for us to decide what kind of country we want to be. As we leave the EU, we must tackle the burning injustice of poverty and make Britain a country that works for everyone.
“We can do this by taking action on housing, social security and work to loosen the constraints poverty places on people’s lives. No one wants to see more families being pushed over the brink.
“We have an opportunity to fix this and ensure everyone can reach a decent standard of living – it is one we must seize to make the country work for everyone after Brexit.”
In-work poverty has been rising even faster than employment, the report says, and has been exacerbated by many parents working in low paid service industry jobs with little chance of career progression “especially in hotels, bars, restaurants and shops”.
Any gains from the national living wage and tax cuts are often outweighed by changes to tax credits and benefits that top up low wages, while the cost of housing has risen.
To stem the rise in poverty, the report calls for major government investments in affordable housing, ending the freeze on benefits and tax credits, and for employers to help people progress in the workplace.”
New report from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism:
“In the last two years, the number of councils investing in property has doubled. In the past financial year alone, councils spent a total of £1.8 billion on investment properties, a six-fold increase from 2013-14.
Of biggest concern is the scale of debts accrued by four of the smallest local authorities in England – including Spelthorne Borough Council in Surrey, which says it is “heavily reliant on investment income” to fund the services it provides.
Spelthorne has so far borrowed £1 billion despite having a net annual budget of just £22 million – this equates to 46 times its spending power. Three other councils, Woking, Runnymede and Eastleigh, have borrowed more than ten times their budget.
The Bureau has obtained details of the property investments made by more than 100 local authorities. Today we have published the details in full, providing unprecedented insight into how councils are becoming property speculators – with additional details on the millions paid to property and finance consultants.
Properties bought by councils include a BP business park in Sunbury purchased by Spelthorne for £392 million; a Tesco Extra bought for £38.8 million by East Hampshire District Council; branches of Waitrose and Travelodge acquired by Runnymede District Council for £21.7 million and a B&Q store that is now owned by Dover District Council. Other acquisitions range from farmland and gyms to a Royal Mail depot and a solar farm.
Councils say they have been forced to find new ways to generate income given the steep cuts in central government funding, which the National Audit Office calculates has fallen by half in real terms since 2010.
But experts warn that commercial property investments are volatile, and the fact that councils are financing them through borrowing makes them even riskier. If anything goes wrong, the consequences for taxpayers could be severe.
“This is a risk that local authorities have never been exposed to before”
“If you look at the most extreme examples, there are public services used by vulnerable people which are dependent on how well rental income in the property market is doing,” said Don Peebles, Head of Policy for the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), which oversees council finance and publishes the guidelines local authorities are supposed to follow.
“This is a risk that local authorities have never been exposed to before and you have to ask whether they are equipped to handle that risk.”
Warnings unheeded
The spending spree has been made possible by councils’ easy access to low interest loans from the Public Works Loans Board (PWLB), a national government body. There are no limits to how much councils can borrow and they do not have to prove they can afford it – the PWLB leaves this up to councillors to decide. … “
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2018-12-04/councils-borrow-billions-to-buy-real-estate
Executive summary here:
https://www.tcpa.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx
Honestly, Owl can barely raise a talon. Nothing new, so let’s just stick with this paragraph:
” …The defining challenge for the future of planning is not to be found in any technical fix, but in the degree to which there is consensus in favour of an effective and democratic system to manage the future development of our communities and our nation.
The institutional and technical changes are possible and achievable.
The question is whether we have the will and foresight to secure the health and wellbeing of all our communities now and for the future …”
… rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb….
Yeah, right, ok …. zzzzzzzzzzzz.
“Council leaders from some of Britain’s biggest cities are demanding an emergency cash injection to stop a “catastrophic collapse” of authorities that have faced the biggest cuts to their support.
Bosses from Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham are among almost 80 Labour council leaders to write to James Brokenshire, the communities secretary, demanding that a forthcoming cut in funding of £1.3bn is cancelled “at an absolute minimum”.
It comes as several councils warn they are facing bankruptcy and one, Northamptonshire council, is effectively bailed out by the government after hitting a financial crisis. English councils face a funding gap of £5.8bn by 2020, according to the Local Government Association.
The plea from Labour councils comes ahead of this week’s financial settlement for local government. In their letter, they warn that by 2020, councils will have lost 60p out of every £1 they were given by central government in 2010.
“As leaders of councils representing millions of citizens, we are writing to make clear that you must use the settlement to truly end austerity in local government and immediately provide the funding we need to avoid catastrophic collapse in key council services,” they write.
“The most deprived areas of the country have been hit much harder than the richest areas – nine of the 10 most deprived councils in the country have seen cuts of almost three times the national average. After eight years of austerity, many councils have reached breaking point and council budgets are perilously close to collapse.”
“At an absolute minimum, you must use the funding settlement to cancel the planned further cut of £1.3bn to next year’s Revenue Support Grant. To blindly press on with further cuts at a time when local government is on the brink of collapse would be hugely irresponsible.”
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “We’ll be confirming local government funding for the financial year 2019/20 soon.
“Already we’ve committed to providing councils with £90.7bn over the next two years to help them meet the needs of their residents.
“In the budget we announced more than £1bn in extra funding for local government to address pressures on their services.”
“Cranbrook has been promised a police office in its future town hall development, and ‘more visible resources’ to tackle speeding and anti-social behaviour.
No decision has been made yet on a neighbourhood beat manager, but residents are being urged to report all incidents to help make the case for a stronger police presence.
Devon and Cornwall’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Alison Hernandez, attended Cranbrook Town Council’s meeting on Monday, November 19, with two senior police officers and two from the local area policing team, to hear residents’ concerns.
During the meeting, Ms Hernandez said she was ‘committed’ to having a police office in The Tillhouse when it is built – a statement that was welcomed by the town council.
She said the employment of a neighbourhood beat manager would not be achieved in the short term, but Cranbrook needs to keep providing evidence of the need for one.
“Encourage your community to report everything – if you don’t, it will be harder to fight for that resource,” she said.
“Reporting is really important. It is logged and it has a resourcing implication.”
The police officers present said even if they cannot attend a reported incident immediately, they need information about offenders from the local community so that they can take action at a later stage. …”
“Mayor James Palmer admitted he underestimated the cost of running the new combined authority, and says original predictions it would cost £850,000 a year were never going to be realistic.
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority was founded in 2017 in a bid to simplify local government. It is involved in many major housing and infrastructure schemes, including the proposed Cambridge metro, and the Wisbech rail link.
However, having initially been hailed as an “efficient” and low-cost authority, some are beginning to worry about rising costs and the “spiralling” cost of paying for staff.
Initially, it had been claimed the authority could be run on £850,000 a year.
Now there are fears costs are “spiralling out of control” after it emerged the authority is set to spend £5.6million on staff salaries alone this year. Total operational costs of the combined authority are set to come to £7.6million.
In leaflets distributed when Conservative James Palmer was running to be mayor of the combined authority, Mr Palmer said: “Under my leadership, the new combined authority will have very few staff, less than 20, and will be very efficient, costing around £850,000 a year to run. Most authorities cost tens of millions. As mayor, I will make sure the cost is kept low.”
Today (November 26) Lucy Nethsingha, chairwoman of the combined authority’s overview and scrutiny committee, noted that costs at the authority were “considerable higher” than had been originally expected. She asked Mr Palmer what he had to say about the increased costs.
Mr Palmer now says he “can only apologise” for the increased costs of running the authority, saying he “underestimated” its running costs.
Mr Palmer said: “I can only apologise. I underestimated the cost of running such an important authority. I think, realistically, we were never going to be able to function on £850,000 a year.”
Mr Palmer said he was concerned about costs at the authority which is why he has commissioned a review of its structure. He also pointed out that the combined authority had taken on staff and spending from the local enterprise partnership (LEP), a group which supported business and sustainable investment and growth, which was scrapped in December 2017.
Mr Palmer also noted that senior staff at the combined authority were not earning more than similarly senior staff in other tiers of local government. He said, however, that after the review is completed, he anticipates the authority will be spending less on staffing. He said he expects running costs to be reduced as the authority relies less on consultants.
“It is a difficult one, “said Mr Palmer. “It’s something the general public rightly gets concerned about. It is their money. But we are working to deliver extraordinary infrastructure and doing things that were previously not achievable.”
https://www.elystandard.co.uk/news/james-palmer-and-cost-of-combined-authority-1-5795358
“Up to 3m patients are expected to lose their GP surgery within a year because of a shortage of doctors.
More than 350 practices face closure in England alone over the next 12 months, according to a survey of doctors for the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Doctors’ leaders, patients’ groups and MPs expressed alarm and warned that general practice was at “serious risk” of collapse.
Rising numbers of GPs are retiring early, becoming locums in the private sector, changing career or moving abroad.
As well as pressure to work longer hours and see more patients, the closures are being driven by GPs deciding to stop work when their pension pots exceed £1m and attract heavy taxes. They are not being replaced by trainees despite intense regional NHS recruitment drives and £20,000 golden hellos. GPs earn £92,500 on average.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Britain’s most senior GP said surgeries were “haemorrhaging doctors”. Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, college chairwoman, said she was “gravely concerned” by the findings.”
Source: The Times (pay wall)
“One of the UK’s most influential rightwing thinktanks has deleted passages from its website promising access to government ministers in exchange for donations after the Guardian began making inquiries about its funding.
The Adam Smith Institute, a neoliberal thinktank credited with inspiring some of the most controversial privatisations of the Thatcher and Major governments, offered invitations to “power lunches and patrons dinners with influential figures, including politicians, ministers, journalists and academics” to anyone donating £1,000 a year.
The regulator, the Charity Commission, said on Friday that it had started examining the institute’s accounts for “potential areas of non-compliance” with accounting rules.
It is the second rightwing thinktank whose conduct is being examined by the commission for possible breaches of the rules.
Earlier this year the chief executive of the Institute of Economic Affairs was filmed by an undercover reporter appearing to promise a potential donor access to a minister in exchange for funding a report on agribusiness. The group says it is “spurious to suggest that the IEA is engaging in any kind of ‘cash for access’ system” and denies wrongdoing.
The Adam Smith Institute is made up of three different entities: a British company, a British charity and an American non-profit foundation, each with different rules on tax and the ability to carry out political activity.
In a 2012 book, Madsen Pirie, one of the institute’s founders, said: “It was a very messy patchwork and it took us years to sort it out. We used the term ‘Adam Smith Institute’ loosely to cover all our activities, no matter which heading they occurred under.”
Charities, which enjoy support from the British taxpayer, are required to be genuinely independent from other entities.
There are strict rules on how charities can spend their funds. Research and education are acceptable as long as they do not set out to promote a particular viewpoint, but political campaigning is banned. …
… The Charity Commission said: “All trustees of all charities must ensure they preserve their charity’s independence and make decisions that are solely in furtherance of their charity’s purposes.
“The public rightly expect trustees of charities to take these responsibilities seriously, and demonstrate accountability to the public for the way in which their charity is governed, and the work their charity undertakes.
“An important factor in demonstrating transparency is ensuring financial accounts are compliant with the accounting framework. We can confirm that we are examining the Adam Smith Research Trust’s financial accounts to examine potential areas of non-compliance with that framework.”
The development comes amid questions about the political campaigning activities of a network of thinktanks and groups linked to an address in Tufton Street in Westminster.”
“The chairman of HS2 is facing the sack less than five months after his appointment because of fears that costs are spiralling out of control.
Sir Terry Morgan is also set to be removed as the chairman of Crossrail, the ambitious line linking east and west London, relieving him of leadership of two of the UK’s highest-profile infrastructure projects, according to a report.
Theresa May was expected to move against Morgan, who was described as “world-class” by Grayling when he appointed him in July to HS2, the planned high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham. A source said that Morgan was expected to leave both posts within weeks.
The news was first reported by the Financial Times on Friday. It is thought that both Grayling and the chancellor, Philip Hammond, had declared they had no confidence in Morgan’s leadership and urged May to remove him.
The FT quoted a government official close to HS2 as saying: “They told the prime minister they have no confidence in him and she agrees. It is only a question of finding the right moment to announce it.”
Downing Street, the Department for Transport and HS2 declined to comment. The DfT said: “We would not comment on personnel matters.” …
Grayling had allied himself closely to Morgan in the summer. “Sir Terry’s appointment as chair of HS2 ensures that we will continue to see world-class leadership in an exciting period for one of Europe’s most significant infrastructure projects, helping deliver huge economic growth and improvements for passengers across the country,” he said when he announced the decision.
Morgan, the transport secretary added, had a “wealth of experience and expertise”, as well as a “respected reputation and enthusiasm”. He cited Morgan’s work on previous infrastructure projects, including upgrading several London Underground lines and working at BAE Systems. Morgan said the appointment was a “privilege” and promised HS2 would “help transform this country”.
But concerns were raised about its direction after it emerged days after Morgan’s appointment at HS2 that Crossrail was running about £600m over budget. And, in August, the government’s infrastructure adviser said ministers should spend an extra £43bn on projects linked to HS2 in order to make it worthwhile.
In an article for the Sunday Telegraph, the chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, Sir John Armitt, said the government “cannot simply construct a new high-speed rail line and leave it at that; to get the biggest bang for our buck, we need to think about the whole journey that passengers will take”.
He went on: “Once people reach the end of their HS2 journey and travel into the city they are visiting, on current form, they would in many cases face inadequate public transport links and congestion on the roads.” To deal with that, he suggested handing the cash to local areas to improve their infrastructure.
There were further reports that HS2’s budget could eventually spiral to £80bn. The Sunday Times said a leaked report had warned that the official budget of £56bn for the project may have to be significantly increased.”
Clearly FWS Carter and Sons, the owners of Greendale Business Park are not taking “no” for an answer!
They have submitted two further retrospective planning applications 18/2661/COU and 18/2660/COU for two compounds on Hogsbrook Lane between Greendale Business Park and their farm at Hogsbrook.
There is a very long history going back 12 years for these two Industrial Compounds known as Compound East 6 at Greendale Business Park.
The area was an agricultural field up to 2007 when a Gas Pipeline Contractor building a new Gas Main through Devon used a “permitted development rights” application to construct a service yard for contractor’s equipment and storage, but with an agreed condition that it had to be returned to agricultural use following the completion of the project.
However, FWS Carter and Sons submitted a planning application APP 09/0099/FUL for the retention of hard standing and security fence for growing fruit! The retention was claimed by the applicant to be justified as fruit growing was an agricultural use and the project needed security fencing and a hard standing.
However, immediately after the approval, the site was used for the storage of scrapped vehicles by Woodbury Carbreakers. As the site did not have the appropriate planning nor Environment Agency permit a court case followed against the tenant and the site was eventually cleared after 3 years.
The Site Owners then used it for commercial and industrial purposes and finally submitted a retrospective planning application App 16/0568/FUL for Storage of HGVs in the Fruit Farm Enclosure. However, this application was refused. East Devon District Council were informed that the applicant would appeal. The applicant had 6 months up to 23/11/2016 to lodge an appeal, but no appeal was submitted, but the industrial use continued.
During this time EDDC Local Plan was approved in 2016 which included Policy E7 which allows extensions to Employment sites (except Greendale and Hill Barton that were considered too large for their rural locations). The East Devon Villages Plans approved in Feb 2018 also included a section on the “Greendale Employment Area” which excludes these specific locations off Hogsbrook Lane.
FWS Carter and sons in 2017 then applied for a Planning Variation order 17/2350/VAR to remove a planning condition to the original 2009 application which required the security fence and hardstanding to be removed if the fruit farm business failed. This application was held up for approximately 12 months due to legal matters. The Application was finally agreed in Oct 2018 but with a condition stating that the use must remain agricultural.
East of Compound 6 and further from the Hogsbrook Lane is an area that over the years has become a storage area for Industrial and agricultural products and equipment. It was originally used for the Gas Pipe line contractors and following their departure in 2009 it has been used by the landowners and their tenants.
In 2017 the owners submitted a Certificate of Lawfulness 17/2441/CPE. These Certificates are used by landowners who have used a specific area for more than 10 years without the correct planning permission and therefore are able to claim that the current use is now “lawful” after 10 years illegal use.
However, it was highlighted to the Planning Authority by the local “Woodbury Salterton Residents Association” that some of the use was agricultural and anyway the Gas Pipe Line Compound was “permitted development”, so the application failed the 10-year time requirement. Therefore, the submission failed.
It is normal practice that a planning Authority would inform landowners that an “Enforcement Notice” would eventually be served in cases like this where there has been breaches in planning regulations.
To presumably delay the Enforcement Notice, FWS Carter and sons have now submitted two further retrospective applications for a change of use application 18/2661/COU at compound East 6 and a further application 18/2660/COU for the compound relating to the failed “Certificate of Lawfulness”
Therefore, the Enforcement Notices will not be served whilst these applications are considered, with the decision to serve the Enforcement Notices being subject to the decision on these latest two applications.
The Saga of Hogsbrook Lane therefore continues!
Guardian letters:
“The planning system is broken. At the London launch this week of Nick Raynsford’s Review of Planning in England, speakers described demoralised councillors and planners; frustration over constant changes of policy; and anger that the system is not delivering what people want. Parish councils are at the sharp end of this failure to reform the system. Communities here in Kent and across Britain are facing the threat of opportunistic, unplanned development. Landowners and developers are exploiting the fact that it takes time to prepare, consult on and get approval for a new local plan, to bring forward applications for housing development on unsuitable sites.
Additionally, where a local authority does not have a five-year “housing supply” (an arbitrary figure and a rather nebulous concept as the number of houses in the pipeline fluctuates continually), the new national planning policy framework (NPPF) dictates that councils must grant permission, unless there are overriding reasons to refuse. A developer-led planning process, crude housing targets, no joined-up regional thinking, and flawed “consultation” has resulted in communities being pitted against each other as they try to protect the environment and their health.
The Raynsford review makes 24 recommendations to create a simpler, fairer system. These include strategic regional planning, a (limited) community right to challenge in an attempt to redress the balance of power, and a duty on local authorities to plan for high-quality and genuinely affordable homes. I hope the government will listen carefully to the arguments for reform. Change is desperately needed.
Richard Byatt
Chair, planning committee, West Malling parish council, Kent”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/30/our-broken-housing-market-urgently-needs-fixing
“A Freedom of Information Request submitted by the Exmouth Journal has revealed between 2013 and 2017 the council (DCC) spent £1,965,370 on 145 separate settlement agreements, often referred to as gagging orders.
The confidentiality clauses in these agreements are usually agreed when an employee leaves an organisation due to a disagreement, workplace issue or redundancy.
None of the settlement agreements into which DCC entered in the last five years were for staff being made redundant. …”
https://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/2million-gagging-staff-at-devon-county-council-1-5801603
“City lawyers told to target emerging economies in developing countries post Brexit”
City lawyers should sell their services to emerging economic powers such as Nigeria and Kazakhstan to generate “vital” earnings for the UK after Brexit, the Justice Secretary has told legal chiefs. …”
What does this have to do with East Devon? Nothing.
What does it have to do with our MP, Hugo Swire? Everything.
The (currently non-trading) company he took such a long while to put on his Register of Interests (co-director, ex-Energy Minister and spokesperson for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska) has been set up to get involved with …..
drumroll ….. emerging economies!
Owl says: just as well it is a Tory council that’s allowed to break the rules!
“Permission granted to spend £60m cash received from sale of HQ.
The government has in effect bailed out Tory-run Northamptonshire county council after giving it unprecedented permission to spend up to £60m of cash received from the sale of its HQ on funding day-to-day services.
The highly unusual move – accounting rules normally prevent councils using capital receipts in this way – means the crisis-hit authority is likely to escape falling into insolvency for the third time in less than a year.
Ministers gave the go-ahead for the bailout after commissioners sent in to run the council issued a stark warning that without a cash injection, Northamptonshire would be unable to meet its legal duties to run core services such as social care.
Opposition councillors called it a political move to save ministers from having to directly bail out the council. Labour group leader Mick Scrimshaw said: “It is clearly politics. The Conservative government did not want the political embarrassment and for that reason they have been allowed to use these capital receipts.”
Northamptonshire declared itself effectively bankrupt in February after it realised it could not balance its books. It declared insolvency again in July after a review revealed it had understated the extent of its financial problems. It must make good a £70m deficit by the end of March to avoid insolvency for a third time.
Although the council has already set in train a draconian cuts programme for the current financial year to try and overturn the £70m budget shortfall, the commissioners said this alone would not be enough to prevent insolvency.
In a report to the communities secretary, James Brokenshire, the commissioners Brian Roberts and Tony McArdle said the “extraordinary” scale of cuts to services needed in one year to fill the funding gap would breach councils’ legal obligations.
The report said: “Considered against the concomitant need to maintain the integrity of critical public service delivery, it is a challenge that is beyond being met in a single year. We are compelled to the view that the finding of an alternative mechanism for addressing this legacy will be unavoidable.”
The report notes that the council has been dysfunctional and that morale is poor among “long suffering” staff. It also criticises its “lack of credible leadership and direction over many years”, though it notes there have been some improvements in culture and management over the past few months.
The council’s leader, Matt Golby, said: “I am delighted the commissioners have been successful in their request for a capital dispensation. This will enable us to use our own resources to tackle the £35m deficit from 2017-18 and replenish our reserves to put us on a sustainable financial position.” The council is hoping to save a further a £35m this year from its cuts programme.
Rob Whiteman, the chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, said the move was effectively a bail out for Northamptonshire. Although it went against accepted accountancy rules and practice, it could be justified on the grounds that the council was being abolished.
Northamptonshire is to be replaced by two unitary authorities under plans approved by ministers earlier this year after the inspectors’ report concluded that the council’s management and financial problems were so deep-rooted it could not be easily turned around.
Enabling the council to convert some of the £60m it received from the fire sale of its new state-of-the-art HQ earlier this year – just months after it moved in – will allow it to clear an underlying £35m revenue deficit, and removes the need for ministers to pump money into the council directly.
Ironically, a highly critical inspectors’ report in March was scathing of the council’s preparedness to compromise generally accepted accounting principles to present the councils’ finances in a better light. Earlier this month a task force was sent into oversee its failing child protection services.
Brokenshire said: “Clearly, the situation in Northamptonshire is very serious. I am grateful to the commissioners for uncovering the council’s true financial position and the robust steps they have taken to improve its financial management and governance.”
Owl says: Owl has a strategy to catch twice as many mice as it catch now. The fact that there are far fewer mice, much less farmland, Owl is getting very much older and no owl has ever caught that many mice ever is immaterial – but it gives Owl “something to aim for”!
Councillors really do need to sit a test before they pretend to represent us!
“Plans to double SW productivity branded ‘ludicrous’
Plans to double the productivity of the South West by 2038 have been slammed as “ludicrous and a fairytale”.
The Heart of the South West Joint Committee has a vision for the whole of the region to become more prosperous, for people to have a better quality of life and to create a more vibrant economy where the benefits can be shared by everyone.
The productivity strategy says: “Our ambition is simple – to double the size of the economy over 20 years. We have ambitious local plans that outline needs and opportunities for housing and economic growth. To accelerate our progress towards our ambition and vision, improving productivity is our collective focus.”
South Hams District Council’s executive were noting the progress report they made since it was established in March.
Cllr Julian Brazil questioned how realistic and achievable the plans to double the economy in the next 20 years really were.
He said: “We haven’t seen that kind of growth in my lifetime. It is ludicrous and rubbish, and if they follow these fairytale and fictitious views about the economy, it doesn’t give it any credence. They should be much more realistic and things like this doesn’t give me any confidence they will come up with anything of any use.”
Cllr John Tucker leader of South Hams, said it was a stretch target but gave the LEP something to aim for.
And Cllr Trevor Pennington said the economy has grown over the years and there is more employment than there has ever been.
The executive unanimously noted the progress report, agreed to delegate development and endorsement of the HotSW Local Industrial Strategy (LIS) to the HotSW Joint Committee, and said it had made a £1,400 annual budgetary provision for it.”
Source: Western Morning News
“Private housebuilders have been accused of “appalling self-interest” over their lobbying against building more accessible homes for disabled residents.
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) has been objecting to councils across England that wish to fix new targets to increase the number of homes with room for wheelchair users and which could be adaptable.
It has made submissions to at least 17 authorities, from Liverpool to Sevenoaks, arguing that new local planning policies seeking more accessible housing could make it unprofitable to build new homes. The submissions also question whether predictions of an ageing population mean an increased demand for adaptable and accessible housing would be certain.
Charities including Age UK, the Centre for Ageing Better and Disability Rights UK said on Tuesday they were alarmed at its objections to planning policy proposals to make greater disability access mandatory. It said only 7% of homes were classed as accessible and that building to a higher accessibility standard would cost about £500 more.
The HBF represents highly profitable housing firms including Persimmon, which recorded gross profits of £565m in the first six months of this year, during which it built 8,000 new homes – a margin per home of about £70,000.
“Without homes that enable us to live safely and independently for as long as possible, we will see increased and unsustainable pressure on our health and social care services and much-reduced quality of life for people in older age,” the charities told the HBF in an open letter.
Unless it was enshrined in local planning policy, it remains optional under national regulations to incorporate features that make new homes suitable for people with reduced mobility and some wheelchair users. It also remains voluntary to make them fully wheelchair accessible, unless town halls make it mandatory.
In one submission to Broxbourne council in Hertfordshire, the HBF said: “The key issue we have with … policies that add financial burdens on the development industry in this local plan is that they have not been effectively tested.”
Objections have been raised by the HBF where it believes councils have not taken into account the financial impact of the proposals alongside other demands such as the provision of affordable housing, and said that if a council wanted to prioritise disabled access, it should reduce its demands for affordable homes.
An HBF spokesman said: “New homes are already more accessible than those built previously, but not all homebuyers want a home that has been adapted for accessible use.
“If government deemed that all homes should be built to higher accessibility standards it could make it a requirement. Currently levels are set by the planning system, which specifically requires local authorities to provide evidence to support their demands.”
“Their attitude is appalling self-interest,” said Cllr Pam Thomas, a wheelchair user and cabinet member for inclusive and accessible city at Liverpool city council, which has faced objections from the HBF to its plan to make 10% of new homes wheelchair accessible. “If they looked at this properly they would realise there wasn’t a problem with the cost or [extending] the footprint. They need to have a social conscience here.”
East Devon Watch 